Cowboys on the Prowl
by Penn O'Hara
Summary: Another “what if” scenario. What if Goren and Logan knew each other before the women ever became their partners.  Chapter 10. M Rating for Bobby lovers, and a touch of humor for Logan lovers. Goren'Eames,Logan'Barek
1. Chapter 1

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**Before I get back into "Cowboys, A Pair of Kings" I desperately need some practice on something. I haven't done any creative writing for eleven long weeks. I know it's been that long because that's how long the longest school term in my life has been. Sigh.**_

_**Another "what-if" scenario. What if Goren and Logan knew each other before the**__** women ever became their partners. Goren'Eames. Logan'Barek.**_

**oOo**

**Chapter One**

**The dance floor was well sprung, the wood vibrating through the soles of his shoes, ****rippling into an excited tingle in his feet. Goren's hips tightened, ready to sway with the music before he even got among the moving couples.**

**He felt his lips lift in a****n anticipatory smile as he swung his head to look at Logan. But the other man was looking sour, his brows puckered with a mixture of confusion and disbelief.**

"**You had to know I didn't exactly have this in mind," Logan grumbled.**

"**You said you wanted to meet some****… new women—" Goren swept a hand to the dancers already on the floor, swaying to a quick step. The high cathedral roof echoed with the sultry tones of Tom Jones singing **_**'That Old Black Magic'**_**, not his pick for the dance but the couples were in step and smiling with enjoyment.**

"**Yeah, and when you said we'd go dancing, I was thinkin' nightclub. With **_**unattached**_** women and glasses with a bit more in 'em than fruit juice."**

**Goren shook his head in pity at his colleague's ignorance. "These women **_**are…**_**unattached. They're hoping to meet the right… partner that will allow them to dance…as one—"**

"**Well, they're gonna get one look at me and my two left feet and **_**know**_** I'm not it." Logan made an exasperated noise. "I'm leavin'—"**

"**Wait!" Goren nodded his head toward a dark-haired woman standing alone off to the side, backing up to the room's window, her petiteness framed by its neon light-studded arch. "Someone needs a partner—"**

"**Oh, no, buddy, you go," Logan said, his hands up in surrender. "Show me how it's done."**

"**No…" **

**Goren already had his eye on someone. A blonde, not much taller than the brunette, but where the latter's hair was waving and unruly, the blonde's sensitive and intelligent face was framed by a straight cap of streaked go****ld. **

**Her smile was wavering. She was getting grief from her current partner; his forced leads pushing her off balance, giving him an excuse to pull her unwilling body closer to him.**

"**I see someone who needs…rescuing."**

"**Yeah, me!" Logan called as Goren left him standing there. **

**Goren didn't feel he was abandoning Logan. He'd got the man here. It was up to him to make something of it.**

**Threading his way through the moving couples, Goren forged an almost direct route to the blonde. Her eyes flickered toward him, then lowered quickly. She bit her lip as her partner kicked her toe, then hefted her against him. As she threw back her head in protest, Goren spied the fire in her gaze before she hastily pulled away. **

"**I'm cutting in," Goren said quietly****, reaching them.**

"**We don't need—" the blonde's partner began, but Goren placed his body between them, firmly ushering him out.**

**Goren looked down into the blonde's grateful eyes and his chest tightened, a protective urge shortening his breath. His palm, placed lightly against her waist, ached to slide upward to feel the curve of her neck. "He was…an awkward dancer."**

"**He was an octopus," she said****, then looked away uncertainly as he led her into the dance, picking up the tempo. "Maybe I was just a bad dancer—" Her voice was low and slightly gravelly, hinting at an inner strength compensating her small stature.**

"**In the arms of an experienced…man, no woman can fail—" The words died on his lips as she looked back at him, her eyes widening with coquetry.**

"**Is that where I'm n****ow?" she asked, her smile negating any detected sarcasm. **

**Goren**** felt several comebacks trip to his tongue, but he felt honesty would serve him best. "No, there are others more experienced, but none that would…respect you as much."**

**Her steps faltered at his declaration, and he was careful to support her while resisting the temptation to pull her closer.**

"**I…I believe you," she said, wonder in her voice.**

**Her chin dipped and Goren felt her relax slightly against him. His body responded to her trust, straining for closer contact but he denied himself the advantage opened to him. Loosening his hold, he gave her the opportunity to close the gap.**

**She was skittish at first, holding him at arm's length**** while going through the motions of the dance without allowing her body to dictate the rhythm. Eventually, her trust and his patience paid off. She relaxed against him and Goren allowed one hand to slip upward under the weight of her hair and the other to slide down to the base of her spine.**

**She gasped****, tensed, then melted into him.**

**Goren's blood rushed through his veins; her giving into him so quickly was as unexpected as it was sense shattering. He willed his heart to slow, forcing his rapid breaths to lengthen to some semblance of normalcy.**

"**You are good, you know," she whispered****, matching his steps with ease. "Very good."**

"**I…th…thank you."**

"**I don't know…your name."**

"**Gor…Bobby."**

"**I'm Alex." He looked down to see her smiling up at him. "Bobby. Makes me think of little boys with dirt on their clothes and hair in their eyes." She tilted her head to the side. "You don't look like a Robert either."**

"**You can call me anything you like," he assured her.**

**She laughed and her face transformed into something beautiful and rare that he was strangely afraid to touch.**

"**Maybe I should call you my knight in shining armor," she said. **

**Her impish smile cancelled ****the gravity with which she spoke but Goren's stomach curled in guilt. Holding her close like this, his body yearned for hers as if it already knew how perfectly she would fit him. Underlying the need to protect her, was the more urgent need to have her as his own.**

**He pulled away, the confused hurt in her eyes ****spearing him. He stumbled and stepped back, hands in the air as he sought the words he needed to explain.**

**None came to him and he turned blindly, heading for the exit, escaping from an inevitable fall from grace.**

**Goren always thought he had a more firm handle on himself, but he realized he was no better. No better than the dance partner who had pawed her. No better than ****his father who had been weak and succumbed to his baser needs.**

**There was a pathetic streak in him that even the great Goren mind couldn't conquer.**

**oOo**

_**Up next… How Logan fares and Alex regains ground.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**Don't worry, Pair of Kings is being written but it's in draft still. I'm just using this to get the brain in gear again.**_

**_Warning... No beta-ing done, so Aussieisms will rear their ugly head again._**

**oOo**

**Chapter Two**

**Leaning back against the wall, hands in pockets, Logan watched Goren guide the blonde across the dance floor. He didn't recognize the dance in progress but had to admire Goren's skill in executing it, so his colleague's sudden departure from the floor surprised him. From a spectator's point of view, the couple seemed to be hitting it off nicely.**

**Intercepting Goren's flight for the exit, Logan stuck out a hand and grabbed his colleague's upper arm. **

"**Whoa! Where're you going?"**

**His head down, Goren wouldn't look at him. "I prefer a nightclub after all. You coming?"**

"**Com—? I just made up my mind that brunette was worth going for. Not that I'd ask her to dance, but I was just gonna talk to her."**

"**You can't come to a dance studio and not dance—" **

**Logan pulled back in surprise, his hand sliding from Goren's arm. "What do you call what you're doin' right now?"**

**Goren's head dropped. "Running away."**

**Logan whistled. He didn't know Goren that well, but since arriving in the other man's precinct on temporary leave from Staten Island, Logan knew that Detective Extraordinaire didn't admit to weaknesses. Out loud, anyway.**

"**From what?"**

"**I…I don't know…"**

**Amazed, Logan shook his head. "I tell you what. If I strike out with the brunette, we go. Meanwhile, you find a chair and a glass of juice and when you work out what you're running away from, let me know. It's the least you can do, draggin' me here in the first place."**

**Goren looked around, spied the long table set up with glasses and nodded. "Okay."**

**Logan watched Goren head toward the table, unsure what went down but figured it wasn't his problem. He had come out tonight with the express purpose of meeting some local talent and he wasn't about to let opportunities pass him by. Turning back to the dance floor, he found his brunette being swung away into the throng by a partner.**

"_**Damn!**_**" **

**He followed their progress, then grinned when he saw her stumble and stand on her partner's foot. Pulling back, she appeared to be apologizing profusely, but her partner's face remained irritated and unforgiving. She stepped on his foot again, and slapped a hand across her mouth in horror.**

**Chuckling, Logan strode out to cut them off as they swung toward him.**

"**My turn," he said, not missing the relieved look on the other man's face nor the haste with which he relinquished the brunette. It made it easier for Logan to swing her into his arms, execute a traveling three-sixty turn that had them out of the dancing couples and beside the arched window.**

"**I can't really dance," he said, getting the obvious hurdle out of the way. "I just thought you needed saving."**

"_**He**_** was the one who needed saving," she laughed, and Logan liked her deep Brooklyn accent. "I'm not exactly in my element here. Are you saying you're not either?" **

**Logan watched her check him out and held out his arms with a cocky grin.**

"**Well?" he asked.**

"**I think you could bluff you way out of **_**and**_** into anything." She held out her right hand and smiled. "Carolyn. Dance flop."**

**Logan took her hand and gave it a light squeeze, liking its cool softness with a hint of strength beneath. "Mike. Dance hopeful."**

**Carolyn pursed her lips, and his eyes were drawn to their curved fullness. He let his gaze linger there to see if she would scare off easily.**

**Her lashes dropped, her mouth widened into a smile and then she looked up at him with a direct gaze. "What are you hoping for?"**

**Logan didn't hold back his answering laugh. "Lady, you're scary. You're readin' me like a book."**

**He watched her lips part and her tongue dart to the corner of her mouth. "And I'm thinking I like the book."**

**Logan's deep chuckle was loud and appreciative. "How do you feel about nightclubs?"**

**Carolyn shook her head. "How do you feel about a bar with dark corners and loads of ambience?"**

"**Show me the way." Taking her directness in his stride, Logan looked for Goren and found him still at the drinks table, but he wasn't alone. The blonde had joined him, and Logan's grin widened. **

**Maybe all was not lost for Goren.**

**oOo**

**Alex studied the closely cropped graying head of the man who had suddenly abandoned her as he hunched over a half-full glass of juice. She admired the long tapered fingers that idly twirled the glass between his knees. Alex guessed from the way he ignored her that he was more agitated than he appeared.**

"**Did I do something wrong?" she asked. "Because I don't remember saying any—"**

**He looked up and a quick sliver of awareness rippled through her. The clear brown of his very expressive eyes was at variance with the tortured twist of his mouth. He was beating himself up about something and Alex inexplicably cared what it was. **

"**No! It was nothing you…said…or did. I…suddenly had to—"**

"**Leave? But you're still here." Alex sat down on the chair beside him. "Can I help? Bobby?" She tried out his name and was surprised it did suit him after all, particularly when he looked both helpless and lost.**

**Bobby spun ****round and placed his glass on the table. He looked back at her and some of his helplessness slid away as he remembered his manners and offered her a drink.**

"**No, thanks," she said. "But I'd like to listen. If that will help."**

**He sighed deeply, his big chest rising and falling, drawing Alex' attention to the broadness of his shoulders. Somehow, her offering to help such a big capable man seemed laughable.**

**With something like regret, she stood to leave. "I'm sorry. I'll go. I'm not needed—"**

"**No! I…I'm the one who should be apologizing." It was worth prodding him to see those brown eyes appeal to her so sincerely. "I took advantage…I came on too strong."**

"**Too str—?" Alex was careful not to laugh, but it seemed such a trivial thing of which to feel guilty. "You're weren't," she assured him. "In truth, I felt safe. That's all. Now, could we dance some more?"**

**She saw his hesitation, but didn't understand it. Refusing now to leave him, she waited for his compliance. "Bobby?"**

**He smiled and Alex felt a flutter in her stomach and something in her knees give. She held out her hand, hoping it wouldn't tremble with the quiver that shot to her toes.**

**He took it, his tentative grasp feeling like a caress. Alex flicked back her hair, feigning an ease she was far from feeling, as he stood tall by her side and looked down at her.**

"**Thank you for being so underst—"**

"**I'm not," she said firmly. "I'm just being selfish."**

**oOo**

_**Next… how Alex breaks down Bobby's barriers and Carolyn and Mike enjoy themselves and each other.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

**oOo**

**Chapter ****Three**

**Walking round the ****circling couples now in a full ballroom swing, Carolyn fought down the skip in her step as she lead Mike toward Alex leaving the drinks table with a tall man by her side. The second thoughts Carolyn was having about accompanying her friend to the dance studio were forgotten in the firm hand clasp of the good-looking man whose confidence was tempered by an openness that assured her she had nothing to fear from hidden agendas.**

"**Alex," she called, "we're off to Mooney's. Want to join us?"**

**Alex' brow lifted, a mixture of disbelief and disapproval. Carolyn couldn't blame her. She'd spent most of the afternoon relegating Alex with the downfalls of picking up men as a form of evening entertainment and here she was, walking out the door with one in tow. In her defense, she could always say she'd watched too much "Sex and the City" lately. **

"**Don't!" Carolyn warned. "Just don't say it. You coming or not?"**

"**Considering she's with my buddy," Mike said, "it would make a lot of sense if she didn't break up the party."**

**Carolyn swung round in surprise. "Wow, that's a fortunate coincidence."**

"**I'd prefer to stay here," Alex said. "****I came to dance. What about you, Bobby?"**

**Her escort nodded and Carolyn hoped Alex knew what she was doing. This Bobby-guy was good to look at, but he seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.**

"**Okay," Carolyn said, "but you know where to find us when you're ready. Come along later, okay?"**

**Alex nodded and, though loathe to leave her, there was no way Carolyn was staying here to again make a fool of herself on the dance floor. She felt more comfortable in her old haunt, Mooney's. The drinks were reasonably priced, the side dishes were tasty and the bartender was always ready to deter Carolyn's dates if they became a handful.**

"**Let's go, Mike." Carolyn tugged on his hand.**

"**I'm right behind you, sweet thing."**

**oOo**

**Her heart thumping in her chest, Alex felt herself folded lovingly to Bobby's body ****as he slowly dipped her into a full back-bend. Her blood heated at the intimacy of being as one, Bobby taking all her weight against him as if she was no more than a scarf he was sweeping around the dance floor.**

**They'd danced through a waltz and a foxtrot, holding their own with the more experienced couples and now, in the tango accompanied by a throbbing Latin tune ****Alex didn't recognize, Bobby was guiding her into the fallaway far too slowly. **

**What should have been a sharp bend in one subphrase of music, Bobby extended into a deep ****lower until she felt as if her head would touch the floor. His eyes were closed in concentration and he held her there, chin held high, only pulling her out when everyone else was in the quick lock chasse. **

**Breathless, Alex followed his lead without thinking. ****The ambivalence of the man intrigued her. During the changeovers, he was aloof and restless, but during the dance, he was intent and focused. Alex speculated if he would be the same as a lover — awkward until the moment of intimacy overtook him. Mentally, she shook herself for indulging in such a fancy. She should just be grateful he was an excellent dancer.**

**Now held close to him again in the closed promenade, Alex keenly felt the strength of his arms around her, the fluidity of his body undulating against hers**** when they came together, and breathed his heady aftershave, tying her in knots that were physical and mental.**

**Maybe she could get him to relax a little. Put him at his ease.**** No small feat considering she was a coiled spring herself.**

"**Where did you learn to dance?" she asked. **

**He paused in the open reverse turn before pulling into the close finish, then caught up the other dancers in the four step. "In the **_**tanzlokalen**_** of Germany. I was stationed there."**

_**A man in uniform**_**, thought Alex. Nice. Army, too. Better than another cop. "I suppose there was little else to do there other than sweep German frauleins off their feet," Alex said. **

**Watching him subtly, she shivered at the Latin intensity he brought to the dance. It was sexier than she'd seen him yet. Sexier than she'd seen any man she'd known.**

"**It's not all about—"**** He started to defend himself, and she was sorry she came across so critically.**

"**Getting laid? I didn't mean to imply that. I…well, to be honest, Bobby, I'm just trying to get you to lighten up a bit. I'm obviously failing miserably. Perhaps we should join Carolyn and your friend."**

"**If you wish."**

_**If you wish. **_**Alex shook her head. What was **_**with**_** this guy? He certainly was different from any other man she had met. She followed him from the dance floor, noting he'd dropped her hand and was paving the way out, assuming she was following. Damn the man. **

**And damn her for getting interested in ****the strange ones.**

**oOo**

**Carolyn caught the bartender's eye and winked, grinning widely. No need for Ben to rescue her from this one. Mike was good company. He was playing with her fingers above the cubicle table's surface and regaling her with his exploits while he was in high school, prompted by their discussion of favorite bands and music eras.**

**They shared a seat, hips butting each other, but Mike wasn't coming on strong, more intent on making her laugh and succeeding. The more she laughed, the more outlandish his exploits became, until she ****finally put up a hand and shook her head. **

"**No more!" she choked. "I won't believe you created a male genitalia masterpiece in the school lawn using weedkiller!"**

"**No…true! It ****took under a week to materialize and measured ten feet long!"**

**Carolyn gasped. "Aroused…or…or…what?"**

**Mike slid his finger up her inner arm. "Put it this way. It was very…interested…"**

**Carolyn slapped down her glass of red wine and hid her face in his shoulder. "I refuse to listen to such tall tales." **

**She found she liked the comfort of his suited shoulder and the smell of him, his natural male scent competing with a ****cheap cologne that wasn't too bad. Lifting her head, she gave him the Eden-old signal that it was okay to kiss her — a parting of her lips, a lowering of her lashes to find and lock on to his mouth. She held her breath, tensed and waited until his mouth started to move toward her, then she relaxed into him and closed the gap.**

**The feel of his lips was as good as the promise. ****Cool, firm, practiced, not too eager, but with a sense of being held back against their will. The taste of gin was tempered by his own flavor and Carolyn shivered with the thrill of that first contact. She too held back, when all she wanted to do was throw herself at him and push him against the wall. The feeling was new and shocking, a wanton first that she wanted to repeat.**

**Tentatively moving closer, Carolyn experimented with ****running her fingers through his short hair, her sensitized fingers reveling in the feel of its smoothness. An involuntary moan heralded the entry of his tongue and Carolyn pushed herself onto his lap, losing all sense of where she was.**

**She breathed and tasted him, pulling in the experience and finding it not enough. That frightened her so that she pulled back and slightly away, smoothing down her hair, and picking up her wine glass with trembling fingers.**

"**I think I need something to eat. Ben does a mean chili on wild rice."**

**He hadn't moved ****but she felt his eyes on her. Sliding a look at him, she itched to jump him again. Disheveled and shell-shocked himself, he looked incredibly sexy.**

"**I could say the obvious, but I won't," he said, smiling crookedly, his back against the wall.**

"**You mean…I'm hungry for you?" She bit her lip. "I **_**was**_** eating you up, wasn't I? I'm sorry. That all took me by surprise."**

"**Don't apologize. It surprised me too, but I'm not exactly complaining."**

"**Wine on an empty stomach kind of…lowers my fences a little."**

"**I'll remember that." He chuckled. "If you don't mind."**

"**It's not for me to…oh shit!" She threw her arms around his ****neck and kissed him, taking him in deep and not caring if she appeared too willing or easy. If she never saw him again, she would regret not enjoying him tonight.**

**A loud forced cough forced her to let him go and Carolyn turned with embarrassment to see Alex and her tall dancing partner standing beside their table.**

"**Has the invitation to join you been rescinded?" Alex asked, her voice skeptical.**

"**Um, no, not at all." **

**Carolyn smoothed her hair again and smiled wanly at her friend, wondering how successful the "Sex and the City" excuse would be now.**

**oOo**

_**Up next…**__**How far will these first dates go and what will happen when they actually discover they are all cops?**_


	4. Chapter 4

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

**_Hehe... my Aussie-ism monitor hasn't surfaced yet. Is this because none have slipped out? I'm doubting it. You're lurking there somewhere..._**

**oOo**

**Chapter ****Four**

**Alex envied the abandoned way Carolyn had been all over her 'date' despite her only meeting Mike that evening. Alex wanted to get to know Bobby more and wished she could feel that comfortable with him, but he had built barriers around him that she had no idea how to bring down. **

**But she intended to keep him ****there as long as she could, to see what would happen.**

**Putting the drink Bobby had bought for her ****onto the table, Alex nodded toward her friend. "Carolyn…how 'bout you and I go order some food from Ben? You haven't eaten yet?"**

**Alex didn't miss Mike's arch look at Carolyn as his thumb swiped her lipstick from his mouth.**

"**Sure." ****Carolyn smiled at Mike before sliding out of the cubicle, and Alex led the way to the bar.**

"**You're getting along well," she said, signaling Ben while he poured a beer for another patron.**

"**He's nice. How's Bobby?"**

**Alex paused, debating whether to be honest or open-minded. "Buttoned-up. But, with possibilities. You've changed your opinion about picking up men?"**

**Carolyn chuckled. "I wondered how long before you threw that one in my face. No, I haven't. But I've got a good feeling about this one."**

"**Noticed his wedding finger? There's been a ring there. Recently."**

"**I noticed. But it was a large ring, not a band. Maybe, a college ring. I don't think he's married."**

"**You haven't asked?"**

"**We've had too many other things to talk about." Carolyn greeted Ben as he made his way toward them. "A chili pot, Ben, to share four."**

**Alex shuddered. "Chili?"**

"**We aren't going to satisfy these guys with our usual rabbit food. Besides, I might need my strength later."**

"**Carolyn…"**

**Carolyn laughed. "Stop worrying, **_**Mom**_**, I'm only yanking your chain." Carolyn leaned against the bar and gave Alex a long look. "So other than 'buttoned-up', what's your impression of Bobby?"**

"**A wonderful dancer. Loads of grace for such a big man. And he knows his stuff. Said he learned to dance while he was in Germany. Army. Or ex-Army—"**

"**You didn't ask either!"**

"**I didn't want to bring up the subject. As soon as a guy knows I'm a cop, he runs in the other direction." Alex pushed herself away from the bar and headed back to the table.**

"**You don't think it's your independent nature coupled with an abrupt personality and no-nonsense outlook on anything that remotely resembles fun that scares them away, then?" Carolyn called from behind.**

**Alex tossed a look over her shoulder. "Screw you," she said amicably.**

**oOo**

"**How're you doing, buddy?" **

**Logan grinned at Goren from the other side of the table, and Goren cringed. He only came out tonight as a service to a visiting member of the Force. He had no real desire to fraternize with the two-seven's black sheep and it had nothing to do with the man's service record or the fact that he was now banished to Staten Island.**

"**Logan…we're work colleagues. Temporary ones at that. I'm not your buddy."**

"**Well, if you like your blonde as much as I like Carolyn, that could change, seeing how **_**they**_** are friends."**

**Goren fidgeted with a drink coaster. He hadn't considered that. And he did like Alex. Whether it would go beyond tonight, he couldn't guess. He let the silence between them extend, feigning an interest in the bar and its décor of polished wooden cubicles, scuffed floor, wall length mirrors and dimly lit hanging lanterns.**

"**Well, I wouldn't worry about giving me that lift ****home," Logan sliced the moment. "I get this feeling I'll be spending the night somewhere else. You gonna try?"**

"**I wouldn't presume—"**

"**I'd be surprised you get much action then."**

**Goren closed his eyes in defeat. They were chalk and cheese and he wouldn't even start to defend his position with women.**

"**Hey! Miss me?" Carolyn slid back into her seat beside Mike and Goren made room for Alex beside him.**

"**I was just telling Bobby how much," Mike said****, putting his arm around her.**

"**Smooth, very smooth. Mike…" Carolyn performed the introductions, "this is my friend, Alex. Bobby? Hi, I'm Carolyn." **

**She held out her hand to Goren and he took it, returning her grip. **

"**Alex tells me you're a great dancer****," she said. "I'm glad. Next time she wants to go to that place, **_**you**_** can take her. I'm not going anywhere near it again."**

"**I'll second that," Mike said****. "I was only there to give my bud…Bobby, some dutch courage to ask a girl to dance."**

**Goren glowered at Logan but it bounced off the man's thick hide without a dent. **

"**I'm sensing friction here," Carolyn said. "I thought you two were friends?"**

**Goren said nothing, bypassing unfelt platitudes. **

"**Not exactly," Mike grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if they drew straws at the Precinct to see who would get landed with me, and Bobby here got the short one."**

"**The Precinct?" **

**Goren felt Alex jerk beside him.**

"**You're cops?" she asked. "You let me think you were in the Army."**

"**I was."**

"**Oh, shit."**

"**Double shit," Carolyn added. "We're—" **

**Goren heard Carolyn grunt as if in pain and saw her eyes dart to Alex.**

"**Um, we **_**love**_** cops, don't we, Alex?" Carolyn said. "In fact, we're cop groupies. But we never guessed—"**

"**Excuse me."**

**Alex stood ****suddenly and walked toward the restroom, leaving Goren confused and looking for an explanation from Carolyn.**

**Carolyn shrugged. "She likes you, Bobby, but you're not exactly making a good impression. I saw you take off on her at the dance studio, now she thinks you misled her, and ****I know she thinks you're wound up too tight."**

**Logan held up a hand to brake her character assassination of him so that Carolyn finished lamely. "She thinks you're a great dancer, though."**

"**I…I should go," Goren offered, but then was surprised by the reluctance with which he said it. Remembering the feel of Alex against him during their dances, the perfection of her following his steps and her apparent interest in him, he realized she was worth staying for.**

"**Door's that way, Goren," Logan said, pointing behind him, "or have you changed your mind? You don't want the ****loser's way out?"**

**Goren wiped a hand across his face and rolled his shoulders, doing his best to ignore Logan's insult. "No. I'll apologize. If she comes back."**

"**She'll come back," Carolyn assured him. "Give her time. Meanwhile, here's Tina with our chili."**

**Logan pulled Carolyn into his side. "Maybe I can give you some pointers while you wait—"**

**Goren gritted his teeth. "No…I…think I can…manage."**

**oOo**

**Returning to their table, Alex expected to see Bobby gone. She ****wasn't hoping for it, but she wouldn't have blamed him. She couldn't explain her disappointment that he was a cop any more than she could explain why she'd kicked Carolyn under the table when the latter was going to divulge they, too, were police. She could only hope that no one questioned her reason for leaving, and so decided to bluff her way out of it.**

"**Uniforms or detectives?" she asked, sliding back onto the seat beside Bobby.**

**Mike leaned across the table, his hand extended. "Detective Mike Logan, one-two-eight, Staten Island, currently on loan to Goren's crew. We're not partners, but he did offer to let me tag along tonight, more for his amusement than mine, considering where he took me."**

**Alex shook his hand, but looked at Bobby, waiting for him to say something.**

"**I'm sorry I mislead you," was all he said, and that surprised her. She was the one who was guilty of bad manners here, leaving the table without explanation. She nodded and helped herself to a bowl of chili and rice, glancing at Carolyn's making a show of feeding Mike. Again, she felt a strange twist in her stomach at how natural they were together.**

_**If **_**I **_**could have that again…**_

**She jumped at the touch of cool fingers on her left hand, a light stroke and then her hand was gently grasped and lifted.**** Lifted slowly toward Bobby's mouth. Alex' other hand froze mid-way to bringing a spoon of chili to her mouth, and her lips parted, not to receive the food, but by the sheer exquisiteness of feeling his lips on her fingertips.**

**Her widened eyes must have demanded an explanation.**

"**I…wanted…to apologize. Properly," he murmured. He gave her hand back and Alex felt bereft. She left it lightly on the table between them, should he want to repeat the gesture.**

**Alex gave him a quick sideways glance and smiled nervously. "Apology accepted."**

"**Does it matter…so much?" he asked, his voice low, the hesitancy appealing.**

"**N…no, not really. My husband was a cop. Shot in the line of duty. I vowed—"**

"**You wouldn't love another…you might lose like that," he finished for her.**

**She nodded, jerkily. "Something like that. Although, it's not exactly a hard and fast rule. It never occurred to me you were… I didn't think—"**

"**And now? You would consider…?"**

**Alex gazed into his eyes, sincere and clear, all defenses dropped. "Is that what you want?" she asked, not committing herself.**

"**Yes. Yes, I do."**

**Amazingly, Alex could feel a blush spreading up her neck. She hastily looked at Carolyn, expecting her friend to be grinning with amusement, but Carolyn was almost in Mike's lap, tonguing chili from the side ****of his mouth and giggling. She'd never seen her friend so unselfconscious. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to enjoy these men and the moment. **

"**Then maybe we can go dancing again. Or something else," she said, and smiled as his brows shot high. "No, I wasn't propositioning you."**

_**Not yet, anyway.**_

**She flicked another glance toward Carolyn and Mike and wasn't surprised to see them passionately kissing each other.**

"**Feel like the fifth wheel?" she asked Bobby.**

"**I've seen worse in the red light districts in Germany…"**

"**We might leave them to it," Alex ventured. "What do you think?"**

"**You want me…to take you…home?" The message behind his eyes made her heart jump, falter then beat faster.**

**She smiled, feeling her reservation ****drop from her like a cape. "What sort of music do you like?"**

**oOo**

**_Is this done or should I take it further?_**


	5. Chapter 5

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**Okay, more then, **__**because I'm waiting for "Cowboys, Pair of Kings to be beta-ed, but there's no angst here. Just four people on a date exploring their options.**_

**oOo**

**Chapter ****Five**

**Trying to ignore Mike and Carolyn getting hot and heavy in the opposite seat, Alex found herself eating more chili and rice than s****he intended. When she finished her first bowl, Bobby filled it again and passed it back to her. She put her hand up to decline it, noting his look of confusion.**

"**You seemed to be enjoying it," he ****said. "I thought you were hungry—"**

"**Is that another way of saying, I was making a pig of myself?" she asked, joking, but he took her seriously, shaking his head and pulling back against the cubicle seat.**

"**No! No…I…ah…" He hung his head. "I'll eat it myself."**

"**Eat it if you want, but I…well…" Alex swept a hand across the table at Carolyn almost lost to sight, blocked by the breadth of Logan's back and bent head. "Eating seems preferable to watching those two make out at the table—"**

**Bobby's warm gaze dropped from hers to briefly watch Carolyn and Mike. "I don't know Logan well but your friend seems ah…uninhibited around him."**

"**And that's what I don't get," Alex' voice dropped. "Carolyn is usually reserved. Serious. She barely smiles at work, doesn't even laugh. I've never seen her let herself go like this."**

"**You work together?" Bobby asked.**

**Alex stiffened****, seeking a diversion. "Carolyn! Get a room, will you?"**

**Laughing, her friend extricated herself from Mike's embrace and peeked around his shoulder. ****"I'm sleeping over tonight, remember? If you wanna get rid of me, you gotta at least get me back to your place and my car."**

"**I can arrange that****," Alex said, tongue in cheek.**

"**Hey, what about me?" Mike looked at Carolyn in mock horror. "I'm at the mercy of Goren and his bad driving here."**

**Alex sighed theatrically. "If you boys want to join us, you're welcome. I bought some fresh coffee this morning and I think there might be something in the liquor cabinet to interest you, but…" She glanced at Bobby, smiling. "I can't do anything about Bobby's driving. That's the risk you have to take."**

"**Hey," Mike crooned, "if I know Carolyn's waiting for me at the end of the journey, no risk is too great."**

**Carolyn shrugged a shoulder at Alex and grimaced. **

**Alex merely nodded sagely. "Come on then, before I start this second bowl of chili."**

**oOo**

**Conscious of Bobby joining her in her small kitchen, Alex was aware of how his large presence dwarfed everything in it. She went through the motions of making coffee with an awkwardness she hoped he would ignore. **

"**What are Carolyn and Mike up to?****" she broke the tangible silence as she stowed away the bag of ground coffee. "Or shouldn't I ask?"**

"**They're…ah…slow-dancing in your ****living room. Is that…okay?"**

**Alex could hear the thick treacle tones of Rowan Keating's '**_**When You Say Nothing At All**_**' coming from her entertainment unit and tossed her hair as she smiled up at Bobby. "I wonder who chose that CD?"**

**Bobby pushed his thumb against his mouth, pursed in thought. "I think it would be Logan."**

**Finishing with loading the coffee machine, Alex flicked the switch and stood back and fixed Bobby with a direct gaze. "You don't have a high opinion of him, do you?"**

**Bobby see-sawed his hands in front of him, looking for the right way to make his next statement. "I…ah...We have…nothing in common. He's a valuable detective, which is why…he's helping us out at the moment. After the case…he'll be back on Stanton Island and I'll probably never see him again."**

"**I have a feeling I will though****," Alex said. "Carolyn's not into one-night stands."**

"**Are you?"**

**Alex' heart bottomed. She had the feeling this was an important question. "No. I'm not."**

**Taking her hand****s in his, Bobby brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed them softly.**

"**Is that another apology?" Alex asked, breathless. Her eyes darted to his, seeing the gravity there, with a tentative hope behind them. **

"**It was uh…a 'can I get to know you better?'"**

**Alex hesitated, but not for long. ****For her answer, she stepped up to him and put her hands lightly on his chest. He seemed so out of her reach, this giant of a man, not only in stature but in principle, and she instinctively knew he wasn't into one night stands either. And for some reason, he was as drawn to her as she was to him.**

**Lifting her chin and closing her eyes, she waited for him to accept her invitation. For eons, it seemed, but finally she felt the warm brush of his lips on hers and no more. Opening her eyes, she could see the gray stubble of ****a careless morning shave. He was a breath away from her, giving her a second chance to pull away. **

**Alex ****realized that pulling away was the last thing she wanted.**

**She let her hands slide up over his shoulders and her body to move into his. She felt his hands enclose her waist, pushing her knit top up slightly so that his fingers brushed bare skin. Alex shivered at the intimate contact, her body straining for more. Curling her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, she pulled his head down.**

**Given the gentleness of the first kiss, the second was ****frightening in its intensity. It was as if Bobby had been holding tight reins on himself all night, and he'd reached the end of his endurance. Alex found herself lifted from her feet, clasped to Bobby's chest and thighs as he bent over her and plundered her mouth.**

**The rasp of his stubble ****disappeared into the searing flush of desire that rocked Alex. She'd never been made so aware of the feel of a man's body, and of his wants and demands held in check by a fragile thread. She felt his need in the strength of his arms, the hardness of his body through his clothes, the driving pressure of his mouth on hers, and his tongue as it staked ownership of hers.**

**Head reeling, she clung to him, ****uncertainty leaving her as she returned his assault. His frenzy fired her and the frustrated moans dragged from her throat made it plain it wasn't enough. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he swung her around to prop her up against the kitchen counter. Alex' hands went for his shirt, pulling at the buttons and wrangling with his tie. His hands went up under her top and splayed themselves across her back and Alex gave a little cry as he snapped open her bra. **

**Giving up on her lack of success with his tie, Alex pulled away and leaned her head back against the kitchen cupboard, panting, eyes closed as she waited for Bobby's next move.**

**oOo**

**Carolyn burrowed her head against Mike's shirt as she swayed to the music, ****letting her body follow his slow shuffle on the carpet of Alex' living room. Her eyes closed, she let herself feel rather than think, and she liked how Mike felt. **

**Tall and lean, he had a coiled energy that was taut against her and vibrated through her skin. He was never idle****, either chuckling at something she said, or providing her with an anecdote of his own. When no words were necessary, he stroked her back while he rubbed his jaw against the top of her head, and when he came back for more kisses, his mouth was mobile and searching and soul-draining. Carolyn wrapped her arms around his waist, molded her hips into his thighs and believed someone would have to tear her from him before she would let go.**

**It should have frightened her, sent her running from the room, back to her comfortable apartment wh****ere she lived with her lovingly-restored antiques and she pleased no one but herself, answered to none, marched to the beat of her own drum. And although she knew that her life had suddenly changed irrevocably, she wasn't afraid.**

"**What are you doing tomorrow?" she murmured against his chest.**

"**Sleeping in," was his quick response, and Carolyn felt the rumble against her cheek.**

"**After that," she tutted.**

"**Having a shower, having breakfast and going back to bed..."**

**Pulling ****away slightly, Carolyn tried to gauge the look on his face, a green-eyed carved mask that told her nothing.**

"…**with a sultry lady with wild waving hair, brown eyes to drown in, and kisses to die for," he finished.**

**Carolyn frowned. "Do I know her?"**

"**Intimately," he chuckled.**

"**And what makes you think that's on **_**her **_**agenda?"**

"**I can be very persuasive."**

"**She can be very obstinate."**

"**Then the process will be long and challenging and the reward extremely satisfying."**

"**You're full of it, Mike Logan."**

"**I'm hoping you soon will—" He broke off as she mock-punched him in the chest.**** "Hey!"**

**Still dancing, s****he cupped his jaw with the hand that struck him, and looked into his eyes, hoping that hers were conveying her need for his honesty.**

"**I like you, Mike Logan, so…don't blow it, okay? Throw this away, and you'll be the worse for it."**

**His eyes sobered and**** he stopped where he stood. Framing her face with his hands, he bent his head and touched his mouth to her lips. **

"**I'm not gonna do that," he promised.**

**Carolyn held his gaze a moment longer, then began unbuttoning his shirt. **

**oOo**

_**More?**_


	6. Chapter 6

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**It had to happen…**_

**oOo**

**Chapter ****Six**

**Sliding the shirt from Mike's shoulders, Carolyn rubbed her cheek against his smooth chest and let her lips and tongue taste his skin. The heated scent of him had her senses reeling an****d when his hands went under her knit sweater, she let her breath escape in a long shuddering sigh. Feeling his hands stroke her bare skin fired a need in her that was quick and demanding.**

**Pulling away, ****Carolyn led Mike into Alex' spare room. Unclipping her cell phone from her skirt, she tossed it on the dresser and was gently seized from behind before she could turn back into his arms.**

"**You gotta give me the honor of that," he murmured into the hair at the back of her neck.**

"**You can do the rest," she assured him, leaning back against his chest. **

**She closed her eyes on their reflection in the dresser mirror**** as his hand stole to the side zipper of her skirt and deft fingers slid it down easily, but they snapped open again when those fingers turned clumsy while pushing her skirt from her hips, probing where they had no right to be.**

"**Did you just cop a feel****, Mike Logan?" she asked, trying to sound indignant and failing.**

"**Sorry," he breathed into her ear but ****Carolyn guessed the apology wasn't genuine, then she forgot about the flirting in the rush of heat that infused her, evoked by his warm breath.**

**His hands slid up her ribcage and closed over her breasts and Carolyn started to slide down his chest, reluctant to support herself. **

"**I noticed," he murmured behind her ear.**

"**Uh…noticed…ah…what?"**

"**You came back from the restroom at Mooney's without your bra. Should we call a cop?" His hands teased her flesh.**

"**I think you've got it covered.****" She hissed at the skill of his fingers.**

"**Actually, you've got it **_**too**_** covered." **

**Grabbing the hem of her sweater with both hands, Mike pulled it slowly upward over her head. When her arms were clear, he guided her hands to link themselves behind his ****neck, pulling her back against his bare chest. His fingertips slid slowly down her inner arms, then her ribcage, to trip over her breasts before continuing their journey downward. **

**Seeing**** them framed together in the large mirror, she, looking open and vulnerable, and he, enclosing her like a sure setting around a precious gem, Carolyn could appreciate the visual beauty of love-making as well as be a part of it. It was a unique experience.**

**Her lips parted as his fingers slid under her panties and with the first soft probe, her legs started to shake. Her hands slid from his neck, but were quickly arrested by his.**

"**No, keep them up there," he coaxed, placing her palms behind his neck again.**

**She obeyed, linking her fingers firmly there, and gazing upon ****the reflection of his bent head as he teethed her collar bone, nuzzled her neck, and skimmed his lips across her jaw to her mouth. Placing a kiss at the very edge, he pulled away to repeat the process the other side.**

**Mesmerized, Carolyn watched as his hands and mouth explored her skin****, amazed at the trust with which she allowed him uninhibited access. For her, another unique experience.**

**His hands slid over her hips and one entered her panties again, no longer exploratory but with confident purpose. Carolyn's hips rocked ****against the coarse denim of his jeans, her bare back pressing against his belt buckle, but she didn't feel the discomfort, too shattered by the inner burst of desire orchestrated by his finger sliding against her. **

**Her eyes ****snapped shut and her mouth gaped as a moan rasped up her throat and out. "Ah…God…Mike. You sure…know how…" **

**A groan was ripped from her as ****his finger embedded itself within her. Blood rushed under her skin, making her light-headed with heat. Her knees gave way, but he swept her into his arms, his mouth finding hers and drugging her with a kiss as he carried her to the bed. Bending over it, he placed her gently upon the cover and straightened to grab the belt at his jeans.**

**The strident call of Carolyn's cell phone froze his hands and splintered Carolyn's mood.**

"_**Shit!**_**" she gritted. Thumping the bed with both hands fisted, Carolyn stared at the ceiling above. "Shit! Shit! **_**Shit!**_**"**

**Throwing herself from the bed, she strode over to the dresser and grabbed her phone. ****Spying the caller I.D., she swore again and flipped it open.**

"_**Yessss,**_**" she hissed, knowing it was her Precinct Captain but not feeling overly respectful.**

"**You've caught a new case," he got down to business immediately. "There's been two more murders in the park that I'm confident tie in with your Remington case. Looks like that one comes off the backburner at last. Meet the officer in charge at the Fifty-ninth and Eighth Avenue entrance."**

"**Captain…I…" She eyed Mike, standing half naked**** and looking extremely sexy, expectantly watching her. **_**Damn! **_**What choice did she have? "I'll be there," she said with reluctance.**

"**And where's Eames? She's not answering her phone."**

_**I can hazard a guess why, **_**Carolyn thought.**

"**She's here****. We're er, hanging out together."**

"**Get rolling then**** and tell her to switch her phone back on."**

**Snapping her cell shut, Carolyn hugged her arms to herself, feeling self-conscious now. "I have…to go..."**

**Logan nodded, flexing his shoulders in regret. "'Captain'?" he asked, and Carolyn should have known he wouldn't miss the slip. "You're either stewardesses on call or cops."**

"**Does it matter?" Carolyn ****sighed, her chin dropping.**

"**Stewardesses are fun, but they're outta town too much. So, yeah, it does matter."**

**Carolyn looked up, hope blooming. ****"That sounds like you want me around, Mike."**

**He walked toward her and pulled her into his arms. ****Tipping her chin up, he eyed her sternly. "I want you around. But it's not gonna be tonight, is it?"**

**She shook her head numbly.**

"**What precinct?"**

"**One-eight."**

"**Busy?"**

"**We have our moments." Carolyn reluctantly pulled out of his arms and retrieved her sweater to slip it over her head.**

**He stooped and handed her the skirt that had pooled near his feet. ****"Any reason why you didn't mention you were a detective?"**

**Carolyn shrugged. "It was important to Alex. I'm not sure why. I…I didn't care…either way." She stood, undecided, not wanting to leave him, but knowing she had to. "I gotta get Alex. Want to…er…?"**

"**Interrupt them?****" He shook his head. "Not looking forward to it."**

"**They could just be making coffee…"**

"**Yeah, like we were just dancin'."**

**Carolyn sighed. "Come on, let's get this over with."**

**oOo**

_**Up next…for Bobby lovers. Bobby and Alex don't quite have the restraint that Carolyn and Mike did.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**T**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**Alex**__**, the sleeping volcano, erupts…**_

**oOo**

_**Previously on "Cowboys on the Prowl"**__**…**_

_**Head reeling, she clung to him, uncertainty leaving her as she returned his assault. His frenzy fired her and the frustrated moans dragged from her throat made it plain it wasn't enough. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he swung her around to prop her up against the kitchen counter. Alex' hands went for his shirt, pulling at the buttons and wrangling with his tie. His hands went up under her top and splayed themselves across her back and Alex gave a little cry as he snapped open her bra. **_

_**Giving up on her lack of success with his tie, Alex pulled away and leaned her head back against the kitchen cupboard, panting, eyes closed as she waited for Bobby's next move.**_

**Chapter ****Seven**

**Goren froze in the process of pushing Alex' top up her ribs.**** His heart bottomed as he realized how close he had to come to losing all control. Examining her upturned face, she looked far from alarmed, but she couldn't know he had been working on basal urges rather than thought or reason, something that was alien to him.**

**As if sensing his change of mood, her brows furrowed and she opened her eyes. "Bobby? What's wrong?"**

"**I…I'm sorry…I wasn't…"**

"**Wasn't what? Bobby. It's okay. I was…enjoying it."**

**His hands flailed and she caught one and placed it on her waist, fixing him with a decisive look. "You were in the middle of something."**

**Unmoving, he continued to gaze at her. Not sharing his reservations about where they were or who was in the other room, she was smiling ****confidently at him. She wasn't judging him for his lack of control, but seemed to have relished it.**

"**Wouldn't you prefer…?" he began****, thinking she would be more comfortable in her bedroom.**

"**And subject myself to who knows what in my living room?" She slipped her top over her head, and let her bra fall from her shoulders. "No thanks." She frowned again. "Are you having second thoughts?"**

"**I wasn't having…any…ah…" He couldn't admit he wasn't thinking, period.**

"**Show me how you get that tie off," she encouraged him.**

"**Uh…yeah…right…" Goren tugged at his tie, but she'd tightened it in her efforts to pull it from him. He wrestled with it, watching her watching him, and suddenly, the moment went from awkward to comical. "Got…uh…a pair of scissors?" he asked.**

**Her eyes widened and blinked. "Um…sure…gimme a minute." **

**Not showing any self-consciousness about her semi-dressed state, ****Alex slid from the kitchen counter and pulled open a drawer. Rummaging through it, she retrieved a pair of scissors and handed them to him.**

"**I'd offer to do it for you, but you might cite me for destruction of police property," she ****dead-panned, but her eyes were twinkling.**

**Goren might have seen the funny side of it if he weren't so ambivalent about the whole situation. Alex had thrown conflicting signals at him tonight, he didn't quite know what to expect. He slid the scissors through the loop at his neck with some difficulty, her following his progress making him more clumsy.**

**She lifted her hands to join his****, his head going down to give her access. **

**And**** went into sensory overload at the sight of her bare breasts within six inches of his face.**

"_**Alex**_**…"**

"**Ssssh, Bobby, I'm almost there."**

_**I'm**__** almost there too…**_

**His tie gone, she dispensed with the scissors****, then went for his top button. "Now, isn't that better?" She pushed his shirt open, ran her hands down his chest, lingering, then waited. "What would you like to do now?**

_**What would I like…?**_

"**Anything, Bobby. Anything you like."**

**With a groan, he butted his head against her flesh and ****she gasped into his ear, wrapping her hands around his neck, holding him there. He was assailed by her perfume, something from the ****Coté range, but the soft velvet of her skin was far more intoxicating. **

**His mouth branded her skin, not allowing an inch to escape his ownership. The peaks, the hollows, the give of her flesh was his for the taking and the sound of her whimpers of enjoyment enticed him to explore further.**

**Her hands were up and down his back, nails digging, exciting shivers down his spine that spurred him on. Suckling strongly, her moan of pleasure clawed at his groin. **

**Fearful of his size pressing her into the counter, Goren pulled her fully to him and swung her around, backing up against the opened door of the walk-in pantry. Taking such liberties gave Alex the licence to fumble at his belt, pulling it apart before pressing his zipper down. Her hand slipped in and he cried out at the exquisiteness of her small hand closing over him.**

**Searching for, and finding, her mouth, Goren was barely aware of her pushing down his pants, her lips fastening on his and pressing for more. Her tongue on his was bold and demanding. He absorbed her wild assault, her eagerness draining his own restraints.**

"_**Bobby!**_**" Pulling away, Alex panted against his chest. "Give me your hand…" Hitching up her skirt, she grabbed his wrist and guided his hand to her, pressing him back in her eagerness to wrap her arms around his shoulders.**

**Tripping on his downed trousers and boxers, Goren**** lost his balance and went reeling, backward against the shelving in the pantry, unable to save himself. Jars rattled, bottles clunked against each other and he fell to the floor as a jar of pasta toppled from a shelf, burst open upon his head and emptied its contents into his lap.**

**Alex gasped and her hands went out to ****catch him, scattering cans and raining packets upon Goren's already sore head.**

"**If I never see ****this again, it will be too soon." **

**Goren**** heard Logan's voice at the kitchen door. Looking up from a lapful of pasta, head throbbing, he saw Logan grinning widely, Carolyn beside him looking from Alex to him and back again in shock. A quick glance up at Alex saw her with a box of cereal pressed up against her chest.**

"_**Carolyn!**_**" Alex cried. "What are you—?"**

"**Um, we…got a…call-out. Captain's orders."**

**Logan ****leaned against the door jamb and Goren glowered under his regard. "So…whaddya think, Bobby? We got ourselves a pair of lady detectives here." **

**Goren scrambled to his feet, grabbing ****a bag of breadcrumbs to hold it strategically in front of himself as he tugged up his trousers.**

"**Judging by the look of you," Logan said, in the process of buttoning his own shirt, "I'll let you have the first cold shower."**

**oOo**

_**Forgive me, Bobby lovers. I never meant at the start to put Bobby in that **__**terrible position. That ending just evolved…it wrote itself. Honest:-D**_

_**Up next…I've no idea what,**__** this thing's writing itself, but I reckon I could pull something out of the hat. ;-)**_


	8. Chapter 8

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**M**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**Carolyn sees a need to play matchmaker but one of her plans goes awry**__**…**_

**oOo**

**Chapter Eight**

**A hushed silence over the squad room made Carolyn look up from her laptop to see Mike ****Logan, in suit and tie, casually threading his way through the desks of her 18th Precinct colleagues. Without exception, the other officers stopped what they were doing, broke conversation mid-sentence and watched him as he passed. **

**Alex looked up at Carolyn, an eyebrow raised. "What's going on?" she asked.**

"**Mike Logan's heading this way," Carolyn said, anticipation quickening her heartbeat.**

"_**Shit!**_** Is—?"**

"**D****on't fret. Bobby's not with him. He's alone." And in more ways than one. The man's reputation and banishment to Staten Island had turned him into some sort of leper. Not in Carolyn's book though. She'd checked up on him and didn't hold a frustration-driven lapse against a man. And she intended to not only prove it but show up her colleagues' pettiness if she could. Mike only had to give her the opening.**

**He did just that.**

"**Hi sweet-thing," he said, stopping at her desk, his mouth quirked in a lop-sided smile. "You still talking to me?"**

**Carolyn pushed back her chair****, wrapped her arms around his neck to stand on tip-toe and give him the hugest kiss she could muster. It wasn't difficult. After an initial jerk of shock, Mike joined in the spirit of things even if he didn't understand what prompted it. **

**The display soon turned into something more heated as Mike's lips worked their magic on Carolyn's senses. When she should have pulled away, she found she didn't want to. Her body wanted to meld into his, her hands to travel and explore; she felt an empty ache that she wanted only him to fill.**

**And her squad room just wasn't the place.**

"**Carolyn…" **

"_**Barek!**_**"**

**Carolyn broke away, but only at the insistence of Alex' repeated command. The squad room was hushed. Overt displays like that usually attracted catcalls and good-natured ribaldry. Instead, she'd shocked her colleagues into silence. **

"**Whew! Hell…I…um…Mike…you wanted to um…see me?" ****Carolyn smoothed her hair, tucking it behind one ear as she subtly checked the rest of the room. Everyone was watching, as she intended. She wanted them, and Mike, to see that someone didn't think he was a police pariah, but the abandon with which she stayed in his arms was more evidence than necessary.**

**Mike scoped the room with a little embarrassment and shuffled his feet on the spot. ****"Ah, yeah, and I…ah, take it you won't say no if I ask you to dinner tonight?"**

**Carolyn swung a glance at Alex, who shook her head, then buried it in her laptop.**

**Turning back to Mike, she smiled uncertainly. "Um, is Bobby…?"**

"**No, do you want him to?"**

**Carolyn looked at Alex again. "No, I thought—"**

"**We're not joined at the hip. He hasn't spoken to me since…" He splayed his hands in a 'you know' gesture.**

**Carolyn **_**did**_** know. Alex had been furious the night of the mishap in the pantry. Furious at Bobby for falling, at Carolyn for interrupting them, at Mike for his obvious amusement. It had been no one's fault, but simply an unfortunate set of circumstances. Unfortunately, Alex was carrying the grudge.**

"**Are you and Alex…? Do you go out together…?" Mike seemed uncomfortable, as if he was the problem, and Carolyn hastened to reassure him.**

"**No." She put a hand on his arm and squeezed it. "I'd love to go to dinner. Pick me up here? I usually get a ride home with Alex. We can go back to my place so I can change—"**

**Alex grunted. "Not a good idea. If you go back to your place, Barek, ****you'll never leave."**

**Carolyn rolled a shoulder. "I'm gonna risk it. Okay with you, Mike?"**

"**Okay with me." He leaned into her. **

**Without thinking****, she offered her lips, but kept it light, pulling back quickly. Alex might be right. There was something about him she couldn't resist.**

"**See you back here 'round six?"**

**He tossed his head back the way he had come. "If they let me in again. I get the feeling they think I'll corrupt you."**

**Carolyn ****sighed as she watched him stroll out, hands in his pockets, overtly checking the desks of the other officers as he went, no doubt to needle them.**

"**You'll never make dinner," Alex said sagely. "You'll be in bed with him within thirty…no, fifteen minutes of setting foot in your door.****" She closed the lid of her laptop and linked her hands on it. "I've never seen you so bad with it."**

**Carolyn pulled a face as she took her seat and fired up her hibernating ****computer. "I **_**will**_** get dinner. I'll make sure of it. It's about time someone shouted me a meal."**

"**Not gonna happen."**

**Eyes narrowing, Carolyn glared at Alex. ****"Wanna bet?"**

**Alex ****stretched a hand across their desks. "You drive me to work for a month if you lose."**

"**You're on." **

**Opening up her laptop, Alex resumed typing. "And I'm gonna buy that coat I saw in Macy's with the money I save on gas."**

**oOo**

**Watching Mike's hands, sure and practiced, ****on the steering wheel of the car, Carolyn found herself thinking of Alex and her situation with Bobby.**

"**Mike…"**

"**Hmmm." He kept his eyes on the traffic which made it easier to ask the question.**

"**What does Bobby, er, think of Alex?"**

**He shot a glance at her. "I take it this is important?"**

"**Yes— Take the next left. We're almost there. Alex is still dying a thousand deaths over ****the other night, but I know she's interested. It's a shame the way it went down."**

"**You mean the way Goren went down," Mike laughed. "He won't talk about it. He was keen on her, but… I think what happened killed it for him."**

"**I'd like to do something for them— This is my building. Here's a park. Maybe we can—?"**

**He**** pulled the car into the curb and switched off the engine. Twisting sideways on the seat, Mike held up a hand. "You're not suggesting we…interfere?"**

"**Not interfere. Help."**

**He shook**** his head. "I know from experience you do not meddle in the personal lives of people who won't thank you for it. You don't meddle, period."**

"**All right. **_**You**_** don't meddle. I do. If only I can get Alex and Bobby together again, without interruption, that's all they need."**

**Leaning an arm against the steering wheel, Mike scratched his forehead with a thumbnail. ****"And how do you propose to get them together? I told you. He's backed off. He won't even be civil with me."**

"**You're ****probably giving him a hard time at his precinct."**

"**I haven't said a word!"**

"**I wanna do something." Through the windscreen, she stared at the mist rising from the heated bonnet into the cold night air as she pondered the problem. "I feel responsible somehow, but I…wait—" She snapped around, warming to her idea. "The first thing Alex will ask me tomorrow is how things went tonight. I could tell her the dinner was great, but afterward…um…" She looked down at her hands in her lap. "…you kind of…you could, er, use some help in the um, lover department." Mike spluttered, but Carolyn went on in a rush before he could interrupt. "Give me his address and I can get Alex to go see Bobby to tell him to give you some pointers. That will get them connecting, surely?"**

"**No."**

"**But…"**

"_**No!**_**"**

"**Why? It's harmless enough. I don't see—"**

"_**Why?!**_** You're not the one who's just been told they're lacking in the…'lover' department."**

"**I'm not saying you are, just that I tell Alex—"**

"**No!"**

"**Mike…"**

**He was out of the car and walking around it to open her door. Helping her out, he said, emphatically, "Stay clear of Bobby Goren, okay? I thoroughly recommend it."**

**Carolyn resigned herself to losing the argument but she wasn't going to give up on the idea. Leading him back to her building and up the stairs to her apartment, her mind raced ahead with ideas and possibilities.**

**Opening ****her front door, she hung up her coat and headed toward the bedroom. Conscious of him still behind her, and mindful of her bet with Alex, Carolyn stopped and pointed to the sofa. "Take a seat or help yourself to the kitchen or stereo. I'll be as fast as I can."**

"**If it's more than thirty minutes, I'm coming in." He leaned into her, his breath stirring the hair at her ear.**

**Carolyn**** shivered, her body responding already, and vowed to make it twenty. **

**Rushing a shower, she spent ****the most time applying a subtle make-up and agonizing over a dress. In less than twenty-five, she was out of her bedroom to find him flipping through her **_**Antique Trader **_**Magazines on the walnut halltree near the front door.**

"**I'm ready," she called.**

"**This is all you read?"**** he asked, his back to her.**

"**Besides Police Bulletins? Look around you." A sweep of her arm indicated the antiques she had acquired and restored from cheap bargains. He scoped the room, nodding, seemingly impressed and then froze when he got to her. His eyes widened and she saw him visibly swallow, his fists clenching on the magazine in his hand.**

"**You're not going out in that dress," he said, his voice hoarse.**

**Carolyn's stomach twisted as she looked down at the **_**La Femme**_** little black dress. Its silk cut was deceptively simple, the spaghetti straps dropping onto a sweetheart neckline and a hem some six inches above her knees. She thought it suitable for any venue, except maybe a hamburger stand.**

"**Oh my G****od, where are you taking me?" she asked, tortured. "You didn't say and I thought this would—"**

"**I'm not taking you anywhere in that dress." He moved purposefully toward her. "Except to bed."**

"**It's not a night—" ****Getting his meaning, she put a hand out to stop him, but he took it and pulled her to him. "No, Mike, I…" **

_**The bet! **_**She couldn't lose her wager with Alex.**

**She was pressed down the length of him, his lips in her hair****, hands warm on her bare back and her resolve slid from her to do anything but give in to having this man.**

_**You'll never make dinner.**_

**Groaning inwardly, Carolyn pushed at his chest, prying them apart. "No! You are **_**not**_** going to make love to me in my living room!"**

**He whisked her from her feet and strode into the bedroom with her firmly in his arms. Setting her to her feet, his hands went under her hemline and smoothed themselves up her thighs.**

"**Oh God, Carolyn…" he groaned, ****burying his face in her neck. "You're wearing nothin' but a thong."**

**She felt him shudder against her with her own body shaking in response.**

_**Not gonna happen.**_

**Spurred by Alex' voice in her head, Carolyn pushed him away again. "****You aren't going to make love to me fully dressed in my bedroom either, so you turn around right now—"**

**He let her go so suddenly, she almost dropped where she stood. Recovering, she watched, horrified, as he stepped back onto the ****room's threshold and started undressing. Her terror wasn't from what she was seeing, but from the knowledge that she wasn't going to be able to deny him. She wanted him too much.**

**Tossing his coat****, then the tie and shirt, kicking off his shoes and ripping off his socks, Mike worked on his belt and trousers and stood naked in front of her, gorgeously erect.**

**Carolyn licked her lips. "That's not**** what I meant—"**

**He held out his arms with no hint of self-consciousness. "This isn't the living room and it isn't the bedroom. I'm not fully dressed any more and you are not gettin' past me in that dress."**

"**This is ridiculous!" Carolyn stepped up and went to forge past him but she was seized and lifted, her skirt bunched upward as he poised her above him, seriously green eyes daring her to deny him.**

"**Yes?" he asked, rock-still, waiting for her permission.**

**Her heart erratically hammered in her chest****; her body ached, anticipating his, wanting.**

"_**Yesssss**_**."**

**Her thong slipped aside slowly as she was deliciously lowered onto him. Her body opened to him with soft resistance, the pressure exquisite and her eyes shut, her head fit to burst with swamping sensations. She missed the green glitter of his gaze so she opened her eyes again, but his lids were down, his lips parted, a look of pleasure softening his raised face. **

"**All bets are off," she whispered as she pressed her lips to his.**

**oOo**

**Wrapped around his chest and hips as Mike lay still on her bed, Carolyn panted softly, waiting for her heart to slow and settle. She blinked several times, focusing on the lamp on her bedside table and the little black dress strung across it. The adrenalin rush and euphoria from which she surfaced felt as if she'd just taken a sky-dive, something she had done for a dare a few years ago. She still remembered the feeling afterward and it paled compared to this.**

**She pulled back her head to gaze at ****him. The line of his jaw, the symmetry of his chiseled lips, the planes of a prominent nose, sweep of dark eyelashes on his cheeks and darker arched brows. Stretching away an ache from muscles too underused, she rubbed her cheek against Mike's chest before coming to a decision.**

"**Hey, hon, wake up," she said softly.**

**Pushing herself up on an elbow, she smiled coyly at him and ran her fingers across his naked hip. "I wanna give Alex two months of rides to work."**

**oOo**

_**Up next…Carolyn persuades Alex to go see Bobby. I know, I know, the real Alex wouldn't fall for the ruse, but in the spirit of fun, this Alex will.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**M**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**A/N: More merely fluff for fun. Don't go falling into the plotholes big enough to swallow the Empire State Building.**__** I've got one day off to indulge myself with this, so don't expect a literary masterpiece.**_

_**Previously on "Cowboys on the Prowl"**__**…**_

_**Wrapped around his chest and hips as **__**Mike lay still on her bed, Carolyn panted softly, waiting for her heart to slow and settle. She blinked several times, focusing on the lamp on her bedside table and the little black dress strung across it. The adrenalin rush and euphoria from which she surfaced felt as if she'd just taken a sky-dive, something she had done for a dare a few years ago. She still remembered the feeling afterward and it paled compared to this.**_

_**She pulled back her head to gaze at **__**him. The line of his jaw, the symmetry of his chiseled lips, the planes of a prominent nose, sweep of dark eyelashes on his cheeks and darker arched brows. Stretching away an ache from muscles too underused, she rubbed her cheek against Mike's chest before coming to a decision.**_

"_**Hey, hon, wake up," she said softly.**_

_**Pushing herself up on an elbow, she smiled coyly at him and ran her fingers across his naked hip. "I wanna give Alex two months of rides to work."**_

**oOo**

**Chapter Nine**

**Dressed for work, Carolyn slipped through her front door and shut it firmly behind her, baring Alex from the necessity to enter**** her apartment.**

"**I'm ready. Let's go," she airily said, leading the way down the corridor to the stairs.**

"**What's the hurry?" Alex stood back, but didn't move. She'd called Carolyn earlier this morning to enquire whether she'd won the bet or not, and Barek had assured her she would need the lift. And Alex hadn't managed to glean any further explanation.**

"**We're late, aren't we?" Carolyn called from the stairwell.**

"**Yeah, but—" Alex threw a suspicious look toward Barek's closed door, then reluctantly followed. "Why do I still have to pick you up? You are **_**not**_** going to convince me, you and he didn't do the deed last night. **_**And**_** before dinner."**

"**Rub it in, Eames," Carolyn muttered, and Alex grinned to herself****, treading lightly down the stairs after her.**

"**So why am I driving still?"**

"**I'm…um… letting Mike take my car to work."**

"**You're what—?!" Alex caught up with Carolyn in the vestibule. "What's wrong with his? He drove you home last night—"**

"**It got stolen—"**** Carolyn tossed the comment over her shoulder with a look that dared her to take this further.**

"**You're kidding me.**** What's he doing about it?"**

"**I don't know! It was a police-issue. He doesn't own a car. I guess the precinct he's on loan to has to follow it up." ****Waiting at the passenger door of Alex' car, Carolyn stood with her hands on her hips. "You lettin' me in or not?"**

**Unlocking the door, Alex swung around to the driver's side and slipped in, ****still chuckling, but held off from starting the motor. "I wonder how he's going to explain its location to his boss." Alex couldn't resist the one small dig. **

**Carolyn stared straight ahead, refusing to enter into the humor. **

**Alex tried a different tack. ****"So?"**

**Carolyn gave her quick glance then looked ahead through the windshield again. "So?"**

"**How was he?"**

"**Alex!" Carolyn's head snapped round in indignation.**

"**Tell me or you're walking. Your choice."**

"**He was…" Alex watched Carolyn shut her eyes and take a deep breath, before opening them again and biting her lip. "It was…kind of…disappointing, actually," she choked out.**

"**Bullshit****. Now tell me how he was…"**

**Carolyn's eyes widened as she looked at ****her. "It was a…no-show…honest! I'm thinking maybe he needs someone to give him some pointers. Bobby…maybe."**

"**Oh yeah, and who's gonna tell Bobby to give him these…**_**pointers**_**."**

"**Well, I…you know…you could…"**

"_**Bullshit!**_**" **

**Alex laughed so hard, she thumped the steering wheel. Her eyes began to water before she brushed them away and looked aside at Carolyn. "Barek, it's said that people can tell when a woman's pregnant. They say she's…glowing." ****She hastily put up a hand at Carolyn's opened mouth and shook her head. "No! I'm not saying you're pregnant. But… as your friend and partner, I **_**do**_** know when you've been very thoroughly laid. And **_**you**_**, Barek, have been very thoroughly laid. Recently. So don't tell me the man's a no-show."**

"_**Fuck!**_**"**

"**That too. Now, what's this all about?"**

"**About? It's not 'about' anything. We had a…good time."**

"**You had more than a 'good' time, judging by that very characteristic flush under your skin. I'm guessing you had a fu…fabulous time. So, what gives?"**

"**Nothing gives."**

**Alex' eyes narrowed. "If you thought you'd try to get me to go see Bobby and pretend to want him to give Logan pointers, forget it. You failed at that ruse miserably."**

**Carolyn finally smiled. "I did, didn't I? Can't blame a girl for trying."**

"**I can, actually. You should have had more sense, and I'm insulted you thought I was that easy to fool. Now for the third time…**_**how was he**_**?"**

**Carolyn's smile could be described as nothing short of beaming. "Put it this way. I owe you _three_ ****months of car rides. And you were right. **_**Fucking fabulous**_**."**

**Alex flourished her hand. "Aren't I always right?"**

"**Screw you. And I still haven't eaten yet. Think you could stop at Subway?"**

**oOo**

**Settling into his temporary desk behind Goren's, Logan continued to mull over a ****plausible fabricated excuse as to why he was where he was, when his departmental car was stolen. It would be on record that the location was also Detective Carolyn Barek's home address, and he hoped that some over-zealous clerk wouldn't sniff out that coincidence. **

**He also had to come up with something for Goren as to why he was ****late to work. Other than the obvious excuse. **

**Logan decided to ****throw Goren off the scent and help Carolyn's cause along, in his own way.**

**Leaning back ****on his protesting swivel chair, Logan murmured loud enough for only Goren to hear. "According to Carolyn, Alex wants to see you later."**

**Predictably, Goren ignored him.**

**The chair squeaked again. ****"A woman wants to see you after work and you're not interested?" **

"**No."**

"**C'mon, man. You can't hold a grudge against Alex for somethin' that was beyond everyone's—"**

"_**No!**_**"**

"**Hey, here me out! You'll even like this." His chair threatened to tip him off, but Logan leaned conspiratorially closer to Goren. "Carolyn's supposedly gettin' her to contact you to persuade **_**you**_** to give **_**me**_** lessons in how to please a woman."**

**Being so ****near, Logan didn't miss the tensing of the other man's shoulders nor the interested incline of his head.**

**Logan came in for the kill. ****"Wouldn't you want to be privy to that if for nothin' other than the entertainment value of hearing me painted as a flop in the performance department?"**

**Goren swiveled around on his chair, his face a mask, but Logan could see the interest now glittering in his eyes. **

"**Sounds interesting****," Bobby said. "What do I have to do?"**

"**Ring **_**her**_** first, and beat them at their own game. What'dya think?"**

**Goren jibbed at that, pulling back and hunching over his desk again.**

"**You ring her now," Logan encouraged. "Offer to make her dinner at your place. Pull out all the stops in how to be a gentleman — hey, I'm sure you've got all the moves. If she calls you to task about it, you can get away with saying you're just showing her what you intend to show me!"**

**It sounded like boloney to his own ears, but Logan could almost see Goren's ears pricking as he warmed to the idea. **

"**Keep talking," Bobby said.**

**oOo**

"**Carolyn! **_**Barek!**_**" Alex thumped her hand on the desk in front of her partner. "You're day-dreaming again. Will you get your mind out of the gutter?!"**

**Carolyn didn't even blink and Alex ****was beginning to fret at how her partner was totally besotted with this one. **

"**Sorry****," Carolyn mumbled, straightening from her desk. "And I don't appreciate you calling my four poster bed a gutter." She sighed heavily. "Can't you just picture Mike—?"**

"**No! I do not need to visualize your latest—"**

"**Well, visualize Bobby then—"**

"**Without pasta in his lap?" Alex' mouth tightened with derisive humor. "That would be a novel experience."**

"**Not nice, Eames. I thought you were better than that."**

**Alex grunted. "I usually am, but—"**

"**He's got to you, hasn't he? Look, it's not too late. I can ring Mike—"**

"**No!"**

"**Well, at least picture Bobby somewhere other than your pantry. How 'bout that spa you got fitted when you renovated your bathroom?"**

"**He doesn't fit…"**

"**Aha!****" Carolyn jumped back in her chair. "Then you **_**have**_** fantasized—"**

"**Can it, Barek. Can we get back to—" Her phone rang and she snatched it up with annoyance at herself rather than her partner.**

"**Eames," she snapped.**

"**Alex? It's…uh…Bobby."**

**Alex' heart bottomed and she looked over at Carolyn in dismay. Shock turned to suspicion and then to indignation in less than two beats of her pulse.**

"**Can you talk?" he hesitantly asked.**

_**Without chewing someone's ear off?**_** She cleared her throat. "Uh, what can I do for you, Bobby?" she asked, then cursed herself for using his name. Carolyn's immediate captured attention was going to be problematic.**

"**I wonder if I could…um…****cook you…ah…dinner tonight?"**

"**Not pasta I hope," she said, unreasonably needing to take aim. **

**His quickly drawn breath confirmed she'd hit target, and she immediately felt contrite.**

"**I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"**

"**I believe you did," he quietly said, "but the offer of dinner still stands."**

_**Damn!**_** She'd backed herself into a corner where, if she refused, she would come off as churlish and immature. What was worse, she'd done it to herself with her acerbic comment.**

**Grabbing a notebook, she hastily scrawled a message to Carolyn. **

_**Did you put him up to this?**_

**Carolyn's eyes widened over the message and she mouthed back, **_**What?**_

**With another scrawl, Alex sent the notebook sailing over ****to Carolyn's desk. **

_**Dinner! At his place!**_

**Carolyn vehemently shook her head and crossed her heart for good measure.**

"**Bobby…****" Alex cleared her throat again. "Is this a good…I mean, why would you want—?"**

"**Are you going to deny me this small measure of…ah…apology…for…ah…ruining your evening the other night?"**

"**You didn't ruin…" Alex stopped, unsure as to the who or the why, but she conceded the evening **_**had**_** been a disaster. She looked at Carolyn in desperation to get her out of this mess, but Barek spread her hands wide and shrugged her shoulders.**

"**I don't think… It wouldn't be a good idea, Bobby," she finished lamely.**

"**Could have I reason why not?" he asked.**

**She grasped for any ****explanation. "You don't have to apologize."**

"**But if I wanted to? You wouldn't allow me that? At the least?"**

_**Shit!**_** She wasn't extricating herself from this at all and her self-made corner was feeling very tight and uncomfortable.**

**Carolyn scribbled on her notebook before sending it back to Alex.**

_**At least it's a free meal. What have you go to lose?**_

**Alex glared at her**_**You are no help! **_**she mouthed.**

"**Oh, fine! Okay****," Alex found herself saying to Bobby. "I'll come—" But she wanted to kick herself first.**

"**I'll pick you up."**

"**You don't have to—"**

"**I'll pick you up at seven. G'bye, Alex."**

**He hung up and Alex stared at the phone a full second before realizing the stark truth.**

**Bobby Goren had no intention of accepting no for an answer in the first place.**

**oOo**

_**A/N: Still polishing the next and final chapter.**_


	10. Chapter 10

**"****Cowboys on the Prowl"**

**Copyright 2007 Penn O'Hara**

_**M**_

_**Usual disclaimers apply. **_

_**A/N: I warn ye yet again, to avoid plotholes and ignore complete infeasibilities. **_

**oOo**

**Chapter ****Ten**

**By the time they reached his apartment, ****the knots in Alex' neck were thick and painful with tension. There was unfinished business between them. He wanted to apologize but she wasn't sure why. She didn't know what she wanted. She liked him. She was attracted to him — the other night had indicated how much. Bobby said very little on the car journey there, only sharing inane pleasantries designed to put her at her ease, while Alex' repartee was monosyllabic at best, if not non-existent. **

**The evening was not off to a good start.**

**Opening his apartment door, he gestured her over the threshold, retrieving her coat as she walked in. Alex wasn't used to such service. A man opening her car door for her almost before she could and sliding her coat smoothly from her shoulder****s without her even being aware he was there, was foreign to her. He was now offering her a crystal sherry glass and she eyed the thickly swirling amber drink with misgiving combined with suspicion.**

"**I don't—" she began, taking an exploratory taste.**

"—**drink sherry? You should. It matches the color of your eyes."**

**Alex choked on the wine she had just sampled, and bent over double to recover. Instead of the expected thumping on her back, she felt Bobby's hands firmly massage her shoulders. They didn't stop the sherry going down the wrong way, but they felt good.**

**Putting out a hand, she signaled she was recovering and moved jerkily away. "I'm…" she hacked, "…oh…kay."**

**Rescuing the sherry glass from unsteady fingers, Bobby led her to his sofa. "Sit here and I'll get you a drink of water."**

**Settling****, her palms splayed on the rough fabric of the sofa, she shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm okay," but she was speaking to an empty room, albeit a cluttered one, with several reading chairs and an equal number of bookcases and magazine-strewn coffee tables setting off a large, heavily-curtained and darkly-carpeted room. **

**Bobby ****was back, holding a frosted glass, filled to three quarters with what she hoped was water, and not alcohol. Sipping it carefully, the trickle of cold fresh water was almost as soothing as his fingers on the back of her other hand still spread on the sofa's cushion. Slowly retrieving her hand, she wrapped it around the glass with the other one.**

"**Do you want to do it now or after dinner?" he asked blandly, and Alex choked anew on the water she had taken.**

"**Want…to…do…**_**what?!**_**"**

**He bent solicitously over her, once more rubbing her shoulders. "Logan asked me… was hoping I would…as ****Detective Barek's friend, you would know…what she…liked."**

**Alex gulped. "Liked?"**

**Bobby nodded sagely. "I think…ah…Logan really wants to impress Detective Barek. He wants to do it right. But the women he normally dates are…I believe…less…discerning."**

**Alex sat up straighter, smelling a rat. "You want me to…tell you what Carolyn likes so you can go back and—" She jumped up from the sofa. "This sounds too familiar to be a coincidence. Carolyn put you up to this, didn't she?!"**

**She barreled for the front door, but he moved past and in front of her, with a speed and agility that was at variance with his size. A gentle but nonetheless compelling hand clasped her upper arm and rooted her to the spot. His other hand came up to lightly touch her cheek.**

"**I haven't spoken to Detective Barek since…that night." His eyes closed as if in remembered embarrassment. "I'm doing this for…Logan."**

"**For Logan?"**

**Alex bristled that she was being manipulated yet again, but the warmth of his hand on her arm and the feather caress of his fingers on her face diluted her anger. **

"**And for myself," he added. "The other night…" He shook his head slowly. "All wrong. From start to finish. I usually do…much better."**

**It wouldn't be fair to either of them to dismiss an opportunity to get to know each other, and ****if she wanted to experience an evening with Bobby but still be able to distance herself from it, this was the perfect opportunity. She could fool everyone into believing she did it for Logan and Carolyn. **

**Even fool herself.**

**But damn her if she wasn't getting fed first!**

**She tilted her chin proudly. "Let's do it…after dinner."**

**Bobby bowed slightly at the waist, and flourished a hand toward the sofa. "Please…take a seat again****. I'll put on some music…and get the ah…first course."**

**oOo**

**Flipping with some interest through ****the latest edition of **_**Guns and Ammo, **_**her head and shoulders kept time to the Bob Seger number, "Night Moves". She couldn't help but be aware of the delectable aroma coming from the direction of, she presumed, the kitchen. She quashed the urge to join him and see for herself a man cooking at a stove, not feeling comfortable enough with him to invade.**

**A slight noise ****made her look up to see him enter the living room sans coat, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up, carrying two entrée plates. He looked bigger without his coat and the sight of his brawny arms made her think of a man on the land, strong and sweaty from honest toil, totally at variance with his stigma of being one to intellectualize. Alex dragged her gaze from his broad shoulders to clear the coffee table and allow him to place the plates.**

**He straightened to wag a finger at her. "No tasting, 'til I get the wine."**

**Alex didn't taste, but watched him leave, admiring the sway of his body as he strode from the room with purpose. **

_**Mind on the food, girl, **_**she told herself. She appreciatively sniffed the vapor rising from a nest of button mushrooms dripping with herbs and a buttery sauce in a bed of wild rice.**

**Bobby came back with two tall goblets of red wine and two silver entrée forks. Alex eyed the cutlery and couldn't prevent ****a shake of her head.**

"**Logan doesn't strike me as a man who would own silver cutlery," she said, "so I doubt the benefit of you suggesting he cook and serve a meal if he doesn't have your…um…resources."**

**Bobby enthusiastically nodded. "Then I won't suggest it.****" He sat beside her and offered her a glass and fork. "This is good. You tell me what will work for ah…Carolyn and of course, Logan, and I'll…ah…relay it."**

**Realizing it seemed as important to Bobby as it was to herself, Alex entered**** into the role-play with a frown. "Would you suggest he serve her on the sofa? Instead of the dining table?" She looked pointedly at his own table, supporting an opened briefcase and a fan of files spreading from it. "He probably won't have the paperwork…?"**

"**I think it more…intimate…but if you, yourself, prefer—?"**

"**No, that's fine." Alex bit into a moist mushroom, the flavors exploding onto her tongue, and closed her eyes in enjoyment. She couldn't pick the spices he'd used, but the combination was heavenly.**

"**Do you like Seger?" Bobby enquired, gesturing toward the stereo unit. "I can change it—"**

"**Don't bother. I like some of his work." Searching for conversation, Alex complimented Bobby on his cooking. "Can Logan cook as good as this?" she asked. "'Cos if he can, he mightn't have to do anything else."**

"**Do I have to, Alex?" Bobby softly asked.**

**Alex' lips parted in confusion. "Do you have to…what?"**

"**Do I have to do anything else?"**

**Her heart lurched. "This is for Logan, right? And Carolyn?"**

"**Of course." Bobby sat back in the sofa, his plate in his lap and watched her as he bit into his mushrooms. **

**Alex' neck prickled ****under his scrutiny and heat raced up the skin of her throat. Hastily leaning forward for her glass of wine, her fingers tangled with Bobby's as he bent to retrieve it for her. Tilting her face, she found his jaw within an inch of hers, his mouth tantalizingly close.**

"**Wouldn't Carolyn like Logan to pass her her wine?" he asked, his breath on her lips. **

**Alex pulled back, tucking her hair behind an ear. ****"I…uh…I'm not sure." **

**She scooped up her**** plate and used it as a barrier between them, pushing air through her lungs and working on slowing her heartbeat. She was **_**not**_** going to allow a repeat of the other night, when she let her emotions run loose with her sanity.**

"**Carolyn would expect ****Mike to let her finish her food." Alex forced the words out past her shortness of breath.**

**Bobby smoothly withdrew the fork from Alex' nerveless fingers, speared the last mushroom from her plate and offered it to her lips.**

**Blinking at the unexpectedness of the move, Alex involuntarily opened her mouth and Bobby popped in the morsel of food. He watched her chew it, his eyelids half-closed and mouth softened in a small smile.**

"**I know what Logan would do now," he said, his lips barely moving.**

**Straightening, Bobby pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand for her plate. "But I'm more of a gentleman."**

**Mechanically passing ****him her plate, Alex dumbly watched him leave the room.**

**oOo**

**The next course was quicker, obviously prepared**** by Bobby earlier. A collection of brightly garnished sushi rolls bordered by four bowls of different sauces. Alex recognized soy and chili, but not the green sauce nor the yellow one. She didn't doubt they would be flavorsome, but she wasn't big on Japanese food and imagined Carolyn was less so. Still, that wasn't going to prevent her from experimenting.**

**Bobby's shirt was ****unlatched by a further two buttons and gaped to reveal the strong column of his throat and a tantalizing expanse of barrel chest when he bent to rest the plate on the coffee table. Alex dragged her eyes away from his flesh to the food with some difficulty.**

"**Would you like me to tell you what the fillings are?" he asked.**

**Alex shook her head. This had gone far enough. "Bobby, I appreciate the effort you've gone to, but no one's fooling anyone here. You don't give a damn about Logan and Car—"**

"**I care about you, Alex. I would like to know you better." He offered her the plate of sushi and she automatically selected one. "If you don't want to stay…?"**

**Alex sighed. She was being herded into her churlish corner again. "I'll stay," she said, disturbed by how easily she kept giving in to him.**

"**Have some more wine," he offered, passing her drink. **

"**Do I need to?"**

**Bobby's**** head swung away from the sushi plate to spear her with a look. "Logan might think that plying Detective Barek with wine will go in his favor."**

"**They've already—" Alex bit her lip, mindful not to tell tales out of work.**

**Bobby raised a brow and straightened. "He's a fast worker."**

"**If you ask me, they're both 'speedy gonzales'."**

**Bobby chuckled, offered her another sushi roll and sauce bowl, and sat back in the sofa. He placed an arm around the back of the couch and lightly fingered the hair at her neck. "If that's the case, then he would be considerably further advanced than…um…where we are…right now."**

"**That's not the point, is it?"**** Alex' heart thumped in her chest. Caught in the ebb of her attraction to him, she was tossed toward him by his magnetism and pulled away by her common sense. She bit into a sushi roll without tasting it.**

"**It's very much the point," he murmured. "What would Detective Barek enjoy now? A caress of her throat? His lips at her ear?" Bobby leaned in and matched actions to words. "His fingers tipping her chin to meet his?" **

"**Bobby! Stop this. It's ridiculous. We both know—"**

"**Are you sure?"**

**He moved to face her and Alex hurriedly took a****nother bite of sushi before he could capture her chin, but Bobby merely smiled and waited. Chewing slowly, she wondered for how long. Time stood still as the chorus of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight" rose and settled in the room.**

**With the sushi gone and no way of scoring another without pushing him out of the way, Alex' eyes darted from Bobby's to his mouth and back again, holding her breath. He finally moved, his lips descending until they touched hers and the same fire that licked her veins the other night took hold now and rocked her to her core, reminding her she had no defense against this man. **

**Dredging up the last ounce of her control, ****Alex resisted him, remaining passive as his lips explored hers, rolled off to brand a path across her jaw and then slid back again to claim them more possessively. A hand down her spine pressed her to him so that they were joined from hip to thigh to knee.**

"**Stop me anytime, Alex," he whispered against her ****mouth, but it was too late. A word would have done it, a pull away from him, a hand placed between them, but she did neither of those things. Instead, she wrapped a palm around the back of his head and stretched back on the sofa, allowing him to follow her down.**

**She was conscious of his warmth heightening her senses, his heaviness pleasantly reassuring**** her reticence, his hands busy between them before she realized he was shirtless and her tank top was being slid upward over her head. Her bra disappeared as she was coaxed onto his lap and bent backward over his arm. Both her wrists raised with delicious lethargy to circle his neck, but he slipped from her hold to run his tongue over a breast. Alex was wracked by a violent shiver, and groaned, arching her back into him and catching her breath back again in a hiss.**

**Busy fingers dispensed with the rest of their clothes, but Alex hardly felt it happen, her concentration all centered on the uninhibited path his mouth was ****snaking across her body. Her blood was on fire, her fingertips and toes tingling with a raw pleasure that forced more moans from her. His fingers, no longer employed in undressing them, found new tasks to perform until Alex was gasping into Bobby's shoulder, her head abuzz and soaring.**

"**Do****es Logan need to use protection?" he murmured at her ear, sending fresh waves of desire through her.**

**Alex blinked rapidly and shook her head slightly to clear it, grasping at some semblance of sanity. Bobby was still role-playing and crazily, she was glad. It made it easier for her to give in to him.**

"**Um…ah…Carolyn's on the Pill. But I'm not…I didn't bring—" She was silenced with a firm kiss that drew the breath from her before his weight shifted slightly. Alex floated on a nebulous cloud aware of his slight movements and the tear of a wrapper but not really making sense of it. A transfer of his weight again and he was beside her, her supported on her side and snuggled into his. Flighty fingers tripped down her inner thigh and raised it, positioning her leg over his hip. Tucking her head under his chin, he drew another groan from her as he slid strongly into her.**

"_**Geezus! Holy gee—" **_**Alex gasped. She wasn't sure if her head was going to explode or her whole body. Without moving himself, he rocked her gently against him, taking all of the effort and giving her nothing but pleasure. Alex lipped his chest, her hands grappling at his shoulders while her body thrashed against his with abandon. Sensation after sensation cascaded over her, rippled through her veins, then froze, pooled and soared in a mindless rush. **

**Alex**** flung back her head as a cry was torn from her throat and, piercing her pleasure, came the sounds of Bobby's groans rumbling through his chest.**

**oOo**

_**The next day…**_

**Standing at Carolyn's door, Logan waited for his knock to be acknowledged. ****Carolyn had asked him over, so she was expecting him, but he didn't anticipate seeing Alex Eames on the other side of the door as it swung open.**

**A huge smile was plastered on her face. ****"Mike! Come in!" She jumped forward and gave him a bear hug before pulling away self-consciously and turning to Carolyn.**

**Carolyn laughed. "It's okay. Go on! Indulge yourself."**

**Alex whooped and turned back to Logan, placing her hands on his shoulders to give him a loud smacking kiss on his cheek. "Thanks, Carolyn! And thank you, Mikey, Mikey, Mikey." She giggled, and Logan had the feeling Alex Eames didn't giggle often. Tossing a wave at Carolyn, she breezed through the opened door.**

"**What the—?"**** Logan watched her go, his mouth agape, then rounded on Carolyn.**

"**Come over here, you big softie of a matchmaker," Carolyn called from the easy chair on which she was curled. "And lock the door!" She winked broadly at him and beckoned a finger.**

**Shutting the door, Logan gave up his coat to the coat rack nearby and loosened his tie and cuffs. "I don't understand…?" He headed toward her, drawn by the pull of slim legs uncovered by a short black kimono. "First thing Goren did to me this morning when he arrived at work was give me a huge clap on the back with a 'Way to go, man!', and now a hug and kiss from Alex and… Hell, what'd I do?" He stopped and cocked his head, pulling back his neck in suspicion. "What're you gonna give me?"**

**Carolyn ****lowered her eyes and smiled saucily. Standing up, she loosened the kimono's belt and flicked the garment from her shoulders, allowing it to pool at her feet on the floor.**

**Logan felt the blood drain to his ****nether regions. "**_**Holy Mother of God!**_**"**

**oOo**

_**Fun finished and filed!**_

_**P.S. The protection additive is a tip of the hat to…well, she knows who.**_


End file.
